As
Egypt Objects
To Democracy
Support in
Turkey, Ban
Rewards Its
State
Media

By
Matthew
Russell Lee

UNITED
NATIONS, July 16
-- As
the Egyptian
government
steps up its
crackdown on freedom
of expression,
from imposing
a two year
prison
sentence on
Ahmed Naji for
his novel
‘Using Life’
to
expelling
Liliane Daoud
after
arresting
Yahia Galash,
the
Sisi-supporting
media
including
Akhbar Elyom
a/k/a Akhbar
Al Youm has
stayed quiet
or
participated.

Meanwhile
Ban Ki-moon's
UN is
rewarding
Akhbar Elyom
and its
correspondent
Sanaa Youssef,
rarely present
(here
in 2002)
but a former
president of
the
Ban-friendly
UN
Correspondents
Association
with the long
time office of
Inner City
Press, which
covers Ban
critically.
This was
raised to the
UN Human
Rights Council
on June 27, here.

After
the events in
Turkey on July
15, Egypt in
the UN
Security
Council
blocked a Press
Statement
calling on the
parties to
"respect the
democratically
elected
government of
Turkey."
But this is
the state
media Ban and
his head of
"Public
Information"
Cristina
Gallach are
trying to
reward with
the critical
Press' shared
office.

Likewise,
they have
given
Erdogan's
state media
TRT its own
private
office, used
to cover -
what else - Ng
Lap Seng's and
South South
News' corrupt
Macau event in
August
2015, before
Gallach
attended Ng's
South South
Awards in
September
2015, then
evicted Inner
City Press
after it
asked her
about it.
This is Ban's
UN.

On July
2, the
Qasr el-Nile
court decided
to postpone
the trial of
the head of
the Press
Syndicate,
Yehia Qallash
and senior
board members
Khaled
al-Balshy and
Gamal Abd
al-Reheem to
July 9.

"The
three leading
syndicate
members are
accused of 'harboring
fugitives,'apparently
referring
to the two
journalists
arrested
inside the
syndicate on
May 1, and
spreading
'false news.'"

But the
UN is full of
"false news,"
for example
about Haiti,
and now seeks
to reward it
in awarding
Inner City
Press' office
to Akhbar Al
Youm.

Reporters
Without
Borders has
issued this
complaint

Reporters
Without
Borders (RSF)
is dismayed by
Egypt’s
election to
the UN Human
Rights Council
because its
authoritarian
regime is one
of the most
repressive in
the world as
regards
freedom of
information,
and its impact
on the
country’s
journalists
and media has
been
disastrous.

“It is
outrageous
that Egypt has
been awarded a
seat on the
Human Rights
Council given
the draconian
arsenal it
deploys
against civil
society actors
and
independent
voices in the
media,” said
Alexandra El
Khazen, the
head of RSF’s
Middle East
desk.

“This country
has become an
expert in
persecuting
journalists,
who are given
long jail
terms when
they are not
sentenced to
death or life
imprisonment.
It has become
one of the
world’s
biggest
prisons for
media
personnel.”

RSF also
condemns the
humiliating
expulsion of
Liliane Daoud,
a journalist
with British
and Lebanese
dual
nationality,
on June 27.
Daoud, who
worked for the
privately-owned
Egyptian TV
channel ONTV
and used to
work for the
BBC in London,
was arrested
at her home in
the Cairo
district of
Zamalel and
was summarily
deported on
the grounds
that her
papers were
not in order.

Rémy
Pigaglio, a
Cairo-based
French
journalist who
worked for
French media
outlets La
Croix and RTL,
was denied
entry to Egypt
on his return
from a
vacation in
France in late
May. No reason
was given.

Nor for
this: At the
UN on June 28,
as Inner City
Press confined
ot minder
asked
questions of
the foreign
ministers of
Sweden,
Kazakhstan and
Italy, Akhbar
Elyom's
corrrespondent,
a former UN
Correspondents
Association
president,
wasn't even in
the building,
having been
awarded the
space in
contravention
of the UN's
supposed
rules, simply
to keep Inner
City Press out
of it. This
was raised at
the UN Human
Rights Council
on June 27, here.

Now,
this: "The
Committee to
Protect
Journalists is
alarmed by the
expulsion of
TV host by
authorities in
Egypt late on
Monday.... 'It
is outrageous
that Liliane
Daoud was
seized from
her home and
forced to
leave the
country
without
warning,"
Middle East
and North
Africa Program
Coordinator
Sherif Mansour
said from
Washington.
"Where
independent
journalists
are concerned,
Egypt has
given up even
the pretense
to rule of
law.'"

Inner
City Press: in
Egypt.
I’m waiting
for a
statement
there…
[inaudible]

Spokesman:
They apply
across the
board.
We, obviously,
have seen the
reports of new
charges being
brought
against the
Union of
Journalists in
Egypt.
We remain
concerned at
the
situation.
We’re
following it
closely.

If
Team Ban saw
the crackdown
and was so
concerned, why
did it issue
no statement
until asked by
Inner City
Press? Why is
it giving
Inner City
Press' long
time UN office
to Egyptian
state media
Akhbar Elyom,
whose rarely
seen
correspondent
Sanaa Youssef,
last seen in
2002, a
former
President of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
asks no
questions at
all?
Perhaps the
question
answers
itself. We'll
have more on
this.

Meanwhile
the Committee
to Protect
Journalists
has said
“Authorities
are pursuing
Yehia Qallash,
Khaled
al-Balshy, and
Gamal Abdel
Rahim for
trying to
defend the
Egyptian media
against a
thin-skinned
and brutal
security
apparatus,"
CPJ Middle
East and North
Africa Program
Coordinator
Sherif Mansour
said. "We call
on Egyptian
prosecutors to
drop these
charges
immediately
and stop
harassing
journalists."

But CPJ has
yet to speak
on Ban's UN
evicting the
investigative
press, much
less on Ban
then giving
Inner City
Press' UN
shared office
to Egyptian
state media
Akhbar Elyom.
We'll have
more on this.

Amnesty
International’s
interim Deputy
Director of
the Middle
East and North
Africa
Programme
Magdalena
Mughrabi said:

"The arrest of
key media
figures at the
Press
Syndicate
signals a
dangerous
escalation of
the Egyptian
authorities’
draconian
clampdown on
freedom of
expression and
demonstrates
the extreme
measures the
authorities
are prepared
to take in
order to
tighten their
iron grip on
power.

“By
prosecuting
senior members
of the Press
Syndicate the
authorities
are clearly
attempting to
punish them
for speaking
out against
the government
and to send a
strong message
to intimidate
all
journalists
into silence.
The
authorities
must
immediately
order their
release and
drop the
charges
against them.”
bo-translation
here.)

Now it
has been, and
even as groups
like the
Government
Accountability
Project tell
Ban to reverse
the eviction
and give Inner
City Press
back its long
time office
and Resident
Correspondent
pass, Ban's UN
tellingly move
to award Inner
City Press'
office to
Egypt state
media
Al-Akhbar /
Akhbar Elyoum.

Akhbar
Elyom has been
used to finger
for
imprisonment
non-state
journalists in
Egypt. For
example, in
July 2015
Aboubakr
Khallaf, the
founder and
head of the
independent
Electronic
Media
Syndicate
(EMS), “was
arrested after
a news article
was published
by the
government-owned
daily Akhbar
Elyoum.” (Article
in Arabic
here.)

According
to CPJ,
Khallaf's EMS
“trains and
supports
journalists
who work
online in
Egypt. The
syndicate
operates
independently
from the
state-recognized
Egyptian
Journalists
Syndicate... The
local press
freedom groupJournalists
Against
Tortureand the
localAssociation
for Freedom of
Thought and
Expression(AFTE)
said Khallaf
was also
accused of 'taking
pictures and
displaying
artistic works
without a
license,'
among other
allegations. A
1998executive
orderstates
that
individuals
conducting
audio and
audiovisual
work must have
a license from
the Ministry
of Culture.
According to
AFTE, the
accusation is
in connection
with Khallaf
photographing
the funeral of
Hisham
Barakat,
Egypt's
prosecutor
general who
was
assassinated
late last
month."

There
are many
echoes of this
in Ban's UN: as
simply one
example Ban's
Under
Secretary
General for
Public
Information
Cristina
Gallach
telling Inner
City Press it
takes
photographs of
things
that "are not
newsworthy."
There are
more, and more
examples of
Akbar Elyom.

Only
when it
questioned
Ban's and its
PR official
Cristina Gallach's
roles in
the John Ashe,
Ng Lap Seng
and Francis
Lorenzo UN
bribery
scandal did
Gallach order
Inner City
Press ousted
then evicted,
and now try to
give its
office to an
Egyptian media
which rarely
or never asked
questions. Ban
Ki-moon claimed
“That is not
my decision,”
but that is
not true.

The New York
Times on May
14covered
the story. But
they did
not in their
long process
report, because it
happened at
the end, that
Ban Ki-moon
and Gallach are
moving to give
Inner City
Press' long
time office to
Egyptian state
media, Al
Akhbar /
Akhbar El-Yom
/ Akher Saa,
to a
correspondent
Sanaa Youssef
who most even
on the UN
press floor
have never
seen.

Her
"in" seems to
be that she
was a previous
president of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
now become the
UN's
Censorship
Alliance. As
one respected
usual UN
interlocutor
put it, "it
would be a
hugely
negative
symbolic step
for Egyptian
state media to
replace Inner
City Press in
the UN."

A
longtime UN
correspondent
who spotted
her moving in
on Inner City
Press' office
noted she had
not been seen
before; the
name was
confirmed by
UN Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit, which
refused to
provide the
waiting list
or describe
the rationale.

But
this is Ban's
and Gallach's
UN (click
here for a
Spanish take
on Gallach's
tenure.)
We are
beginning to
report this
now because it
has proven
nearly
impossible to
reach Al
Akhbar /
Akhbar Al Yom
- the
telephone
numbers listed
online are
disconnected,
or private
homes; the
correspondent
at UNCA
address has
been
unresponsive.
The
absurdity of
this has been
directly
raised to Ban
Ki-moon, his
Deputy and
Chief of Staff
with enough
time to stop
it. We'll see.

For now
from
the NYT we
note this
quote: “It’s
not exactly
the same
access,’’ Mr.
Dujarric said,
“but if he has
an issue,
there is a
staff of media
liaisons to
help him
resolve the
problem and
get where he
needs to go.”

This is false.
As Inner City
Press has
raised to Ban
Ki-moon, "even
when
begrudgingly
accompanied by
a staff member
of your
Spokesperson's
office, UN
Security
refused to
allow me
through the
turnstile onto
the second
floor of
Conference
Building. I
have been told
not to ask
questions of
diplomats,
just after you
came out of
ECOSOC and
even with a
MALU minder /
escort with
me, a UN
Security
official stood
directly in
front of me,
apparently so
I couldn't
even try to
ask you a
question. This
is
censorship."
We await
response.

UN
Correspondents
Association
boss Giampaolo
Pioli lied,
but at least
on the record.
(He rented
one of his
Manhattan
apartments to
Palitha Kohona
then granted
Kohona's
request, as
Sri Lanka's
Ambassador, to
screen his
government's
war crimes
denial film in
the UN. Then
Pioli told
Inner City
Press to take
its story
about it off
the Internet
or be thrown
out of the UN,
which Gallach
and Ban did:
UN Censorship
Alliance.)

In any
event, who is
a rarely
present boss
of an ostensible
Correspondents
Association
(morphing into
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance) to
lobby for the
ouster of an
investigative
journalist so
that his
office can be
handed to a
never present
former UNCA
president - a
representative
of state owned
media who
never asks
questions?
This too has
been raised
and we await
response.

What's
next? Is it
acceptable for
the UN to
throw out a
critical
journalist
writing four
to eight
stories a day,
while leaving
in people who
write little,
and ask
nothing? Is
Ban Ki-moon
killing the
UN? Watch this
site.

The
UN is now both
corrupt -- a
half a dozen
indictments
and counting,
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
cavorting with
the indicted
and his team
covering it up
-- retaliatory
and badly run.

Nowthe
UN is
moving
to give away
Inner City
Press' long
time office as
retaliation
for its
seeking to
cover the
bribery and
corruption scandal,
including
trying to
cover a
meeting in the
UN Press
Briefing Room
of the UN
Correspondents
Association
(UNCA), a
group which
took money
from the
indicteds'
company, Ban
Ki-moon's
“Communications”
chief Cristina
Gallach threw
Inner City
Press out of
the UN on
February 19.

So to
whom does the
UN seek to
give Inner
City Press'
office away? A
former UNCA
President, who
it seems has
not asked any
question, much
less a
critical
question, in
the UN Press
Briefing Room
or stakeout in
quite some
time.

Inner
City Press has
in the past
defended
correspondents
when the UN
sought late in
their careers
to move them
along, and is
treading
lightly for
now: perhaps
this former
UNCA President
didn't know
the history
here.

(The
current UNCA
website
doesn't even
list its past
Presidents,
perhaps
wisely: it
seems to be a
Year Zero
operation.)

But
what is the
UN's rationale
of giving away
the office of
a working,
critical
journalist to
a former UNCA
president who
asks even
fewer
questions than
the current
UNCA
president?

It's
called
retaliation,
or some say,
human shields.
Who is
responsible?

Audio
hereBan,
when asked,
said “that is
not my
decision.” But
he heard about
the ouster and
eviction in
advance and
ok-ed it.

On
April 16, the
acting chief
of Gallach's
“Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit Tal Mekel
oversaw the
eviction of
Inner City
Press' office,
leaving five
boxes of its
files out on
First Avenue.
Video
here.

Some in
Ban's team
indicated to
Inner City
Press its
office would
be left empty
until its four
month
“purgatory” or
punishment-for-reporting
period was
over.

That
was a lie: on
May 13, after
Inner City
Press asked
more questions
about Ban's
engagements
with John Ashe
and Francis
Lorenzo -
president of
South South
News which
paid UNCA and
still has a UN
office - Inner
City Press was
informed that
its long time
office is
being given
out --
apparently, to
a former
President of
UNCA.

When Inner
City Press
asked to see
the supposed
waiting list,
this was
refused by
Mekel. It is
apparently
entirely up to
Gallach - or
UNCA - who is
given UN
office space,
without which
one cannot
access the UN
Conference
Building's
second floor,
see below.

On
May 13 as the
UN Security
Council began
a meeting
about Lebanon,
the glass
doors to enter
the Council
were locked.
Apparenlty the
UN can't
afford one
guard for a
Security
Council
meeting, but
won't provide
information
requested by
the Press
about Ban
Ki-moon's
endless and
largely
fruitless
travel.

Inner City
Press, which
covers the UN
corruption
scandal and
was ousted
then evicted
by an official
implicated in
the scandal,
Cristina
Gallach -- see
OIOS
audit
Paragraphs 37
to 40 and
20(b) --
with Ban
Ki-moon's full
knowledge, was
unable to get
to the
Security
Council
stakeout. Its
pass, cut by
Gallach, won't
open the
turnstile at
the other end
of the
stakeout. This
week a guard
there even
refused to
allow Inner
City Press
through to a
stakeout with
a staffer of
the
Spokesperson's
office.

Gallach, at
least
according to
some paid to
tweet for the
UN, is in
Washington. So
Inner City
Press
undertook to
document the
restrictions
and
censorship.
Another UN
system
spokesperson
tried to
undermine it,
as did UN
Security. They
claimed
everything is
fine, even as
Security
Council
Ambassadors
asked them how
can it be that
the door is
locked (and
Press
excluded).
Some Security
write-up
began, sure to
omit all of
this. Watch
this site -
and see below.

While
many try to
insulate
today's UN
from the open
corruption of
the recent
past of
President of
the General
Assembly John
Ashe, and of
Francis
Lorenzo who
has pleaded
guilty, there
is continuity
to this UN
scandal. This
includes a
revival of the
Ng
Lap Seng's old
"South South
News" team,
with El
Salvador
ex-Ambassador
Carlos Garcia
and others,
even as those
investigating
this UN
corruption are
evicted and
restricted,
and those
covering it up
are rewarded.

Inner
City Press has
repeatedly
asked Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric about
Ban's
appearance at
an event
sponsored by
the Francis
Lorenzo
registered
group Global
Governance for
the UN
Sustainable
Development
Goals. Q&A
videos
here and
here.

Dujarric
tried to
answer about
another group,
then said
Lorenzo's
connection to
the group
isn't clear. Q&A video here.

Well, now
Inner City
Press can
report that
the "Global
Governance for
the UN
Sustainable
Development
Goals"
event Ban
attended was
with indicted
John Ashe, his
wife Anilla
Cherian's book
launch. Video
here.

It
featured
speeches by
Ban and by
Francis
Lorenzo, who
in his speech
named both
GG-UNSDG and
Global
National
Competitiveness
Cooperation
Organization
for the UN,
which
sponsored the
DPI-NGO
conference
last year at
which Under
Secretary
General
Cristina
Gallach spoke.
Q&A
video here.

How did this
not show up in
the UN's audit
of l'affaire
John Ashe and
Ng Lap Seng?
How did this
book launch
event get
inserted into
UNTV archives,
run by
Gallach's DPI?
On the video,
Ban and then
Mrs. Ban are
thanked by
Ashe and then
Anilla
Cherian. The
indictment
details how
over
$1,000,000 was
withdrawn from
the PGA
Accounts and
transferred to
the personal
accounts of
Ashe and of
Anilla
Cherian;
no-show jobs
are also
described.

Then there is
the speech of
Francis
Lorenzo, how
Anilla Cherian
showed Ban the
book even
before Ashe.
The UN has
been trying to
downplay or
conceal Ban
Ki-moon's
contacts with
Lorenzo, most
recently
saying it's
unclear how
Lorenzo is
connected to a
group that he,
Lorenzo,
register, and
another one he
founded. Those
obfuscations
cannot stand;
separately,
the
retaliation is
more and more
clear. We'll
have more on
this.

And Gallach's
Department of
Public
Information
continues
partnering
with these
organizations,
even as DPI
falls apart on
Gallach's
watch. The
last NGO
Conference at
the UN,
sponsored by
South Korea
among others,
had as a
sponsor and
speaker the
"Global
National
Competitiveness
Cooperation
Organization
for the UN,"
one of four
Sponsors of
indicted
Francis
Lorenzo's
Global
Governance for
the UN
SDGs.
Gallach even
spoke at the
event.